“That smell is deliciousness,” Jackie says, and a woman comes out from the back.
Wearing a black shirt and black pants, she throws her head back and yells, “George, our guests have arrived!”
“What in the hell is going on?” I look at Cori to my right and then at Brian who is on my left.
The lady smiles at us, coming to stand on the other side of the counter across from us. “Hey there, we’ve been expecting you.” She looks at the end. “You must be Brian.”
“I am.” He nods at her, and she looks away, blinking away tears.
“Thank you.” She turns back and puts her hand on his. We just watch the scene unfold. “Now.” Her walls go back up, and the sadness that she had in her eyes is gone. “I’m Gail, and I’m so happy to have you with us.” I look at Brian, who looks at me, and I see something in his eyes, a sadness I don’t think I’ve seen there before. “Let me tell you about some specials we have. I made my very own meatloaf this morning. It’s world renowned, and we were even on the show Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. That blond-headed fella came in and fell in love.” She takes out her pad to write. “If not, we have chicken fried steak with gravy and buttery mashed potatoes.”
“Oh, I want that,” Trisha says. “Definitely that one.”
“Do you have chicken and dumplings?” Jackie asks. “Or biscuits and gravy?” Her eyes light up when Gail nods. “I’ll have both.”
“I’ll have the meatloaf,” Cori says, “with a side of biscuits and gravy.”
She looks over at me.
“I think I want everything,” I tell her, smiling. “I will have everything, and we can box up whatever we don’t eat. Do you have fried pickles?”
“Sure do.” Gail smiles, writing it down.
“Add that also.” I look at her. “Actually, can you give us whatever your specialities are?” Her eyebrows go up. “I would hate to leave without making sure I tried everything.”
“A woman who loves food.” She winks at Brian. “I like her.” Cori throws her head back and laughs when Gail turns to walk away from us, and we hear her yelling at whoever is in the back.
“Where the hell are you going to put all that food?” Jackie asks, looking down the counter at me.
“I don’t know about you guys,” Trisha says, “but there is nothing left in the fridge, so …” She smiles. “It’s the perfect time.”
I keep looking around and see a picture on the wall of Gail standing in the middle of two men. “Don’t,” Brian whispers in my ear as he follows my eyes. “Just don’t.” I look at him, not having time to say anything because Gail returns with a tray.
“Okay, I hope you are ready,” she says, putting down a tray. “We have a couple of root beer floats.” She places three on the counter. “Then we have our special strawberry milkshake.” I clap my hands together.
“Strawberry is my favorite,” I say to her and wait for her to place one in front of me. The pink milkshake fills the large cold glass. There is a straw in the middle, and she puts a long spoon in front of me. I lean in to take a sip, and nothing comes through the straw, so I grab the spoon and take a scoop. It tastes like a fresh strawberry bursting into your mouth. “This is so good.” I grab some and look over at Brian who just looks at me. I put my hand under the spoon to catch any drips and turn to Brian. He looks at me and opens his mouth, taking the spoonful of milkshake. I watch his eyes light up and then pull the spoon out of his mouth. “Good, right?” I get another scoop, putting it in my mouth. “Anyone want some of the strawberry?” The girls just shake their heads and turn to look at the root beer floats on the counter. “Do you want more?” I ask Brian, who just shakes his head. “Your loss.” I shrug my shoulders and continue until the plates start coming out all at once. The counter is full of food, and the only sounds coming out of us are the moans when we taste it. I eat until I can’t move. Gail returns to clear some plates. “Well, I have to say this is hands down the best food I’ve ever had in my whole life.” I lean in. “Don’t tell my nana.”
“Your secret is safe with me, sweetheart.” She grabs the plates and carries them to the back and then returns with takeout boxes. Grabbing more plates, she takes them to the back and then finally brings back the last of the takeout containers.
“I put a strawberry pie in there and a couple of slices of the carrot cake.”
“All we need is the bill,” Cori says, and Gail shakes her head.
“No hero pays for their food,” she says, looking at Brian, and the girls all look at him.
“Please,” he says, but she just shakes her head, so he gives her a nod.
The girls get up and each grab a couple of the boxes, thanking her for the delicious food, and then turn to walk out. Cori waits for me, but I just nod at her, so she follows the other two out.
“You have a good one there,” Gail says, looking at me.
“We aren’t together,” I tell her, and Brian finally speaks up.
“I work for her,” he says, and she just looks back and forth between the two of us. The front door swings open and in walks a man I recognize from the picture. His eyes are different, though, and there is also scruff on his face.
“Holy shit,” he says, looking at Brian, and I finally see that he is walking with a cane and one of his pant legs is folded and pinned up. “Look who came into town.”
Brian gets up and walks over to the man, slapping him on the shoulder. “Brother.” He brings him closer to him, and I stand here, taking in the moment not sure what to say. “You look like shit.”
The man throws his head back and laughs. “Yeah, so I’ve been told.”
He looks over Brian’s shoulder and sees me. “Well, it figures the big, bad Brian would have the prettiest girl by his side.” Brian just shakes his head.
“This is my boss, Kellie,” he says to him, and the man’s eyebrows rise. “Kellie, this is Lieutenant Commerford.”
“I’m not a lieutenant, and you can call me Johnny,” the man says, reaching out his hand, and I lean in to shake it. “So does this mean she is up for grabs?” He turns to Brian, and he just glares at him. “Thought so.”
“I’m going to go to the bus,” I tell them, turning to look at Gail. “Thank you so much for your hospitality.”
“You bring him back here,” she tells me, and I just nod at her.
“Johnny, it was a pleasure.” He nods at me, and I look at Brian. “Please take your time.” I walk out of the restaurant with a heaviness on my heart, and I have no idea why. I knock on the bus door, and it opens. Climbing onto the bus, I see that Cori and the girls are sitting down in the living room.
“This must be what a food coma is,” Jackie says. “I wanted to stop eating, but I couldn’t. I just kept saying one more bite.” Trisha agrees with her, and they both get up. “I need a nap after all that.” I laugh as they walk to their bunks, and I sit on the couch.
“I’m going to go back and work in your room.” Cori gets up. “I think Brian needs some alone time.” I just watch her walk away, and the door to the bus opens.
“We are good to go,” he says to the driver, and the bus starts up. “Where is everyone?” he asks me, sitting on the couch next to me.
“Resting,” I answer him, and he lays his head back and rubs his face with both hands. I know I shouldn’t ask. If he wanted to share, he would, but it’s too much for me not to know. “How do you know them?”
He looks up at the ceiling, and his voice comes out soft. “Before I started working for Hunter, I was a Navy SEAL. Johnny and I, we were on the same team.” I tuck my feet under me, laying one arm across the back of the couch to prop my head up. “We got ambushed.” His eyes stay on the ceiling, his voice soft. “We stayed undercover until the cavalry came in, but while we were running to the chopper, he stepped on a land mine.” I blink the tears away. “It took three minutes for me to come to and realize what had happened, and by that point, we were being shot at. I can still hear my name being called. The guys in the chopper jus
t yelled my name to get on, but I couldn’t go. So I covered his body with mine and dragged him with me. I finally got him to the chopper, and by that time, another team arrived, and they helped me put him into the chopper. He was barely breathing.” He looks at me with tears pooling in his eyes. “He wished for death when he woke up and saw his missing leg. He even tried to take his life a couple of times. His mother, Gail, keeps me in the loop on how he is doing. It’s been tough.”
“I am so sorry,” I say. Leaning into him, I put my hand on his face. “I’m so, so sorry,” I whisper, my fingers tingling from his scruff on his cheek. “I’m sorry that happened to you.” I blink away the stinging of tears. “I’m sorry that he struggles with this whole thing.” I swallow now. “But I’m not sorry that it wasn’t you.”
I look into his eyes and can see the memories of the past shading over them. “You are one of the best guys I know.” My heart hammers in my chest because this is the first time I’ve ever touched him or that he’s let me in to see this side of him.
“Thank you,” he whispers and then turns his head back to face front. My hand slips off his cheek, and he closes his eyes to rest. I sit in the same spot, my fingers itching to touch his face again. He opens his eyes again, and just like that, the moment has passed, and I see that Brian is back. “Are we going to watch Judge Judy?” he asks, and I just nod, knowing the moment is over.
Chapter Fourteen
Brian
“How crazy is it that there is an actual gym in this hotel room?” I hear from the side while I run on the treadmill. Watching Kellie lean over and stretch her ass right in front of me, I suppress a groan and increase the speed. If I have to focus on not killing myself on the treadmill, then I can’t focus on her ass right in front of me.
I never expected to share my biggest secret with her. I never expected to lay it out for her. Besides my commander, I haven’t told anyone that story—not my team, not anyone. But after seeing him again, thinking it could be me, I just couldn’t breathe. It felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest. Her hands on my face might have been my breaking point until my brain woke up and told me not to cross that line. She was unattainable. She was my job. End of the story.
“I’m so happy the biggest bus trips are behind us,” she huffs out. “Five hours is going to go so fast I might not even fall asleep.” I just nod at her as I focus on running. The last two bus rides have been a killer. Eighteen hours on a bus makes anyone stir-crazy. “We have dinner with the crew tonight before the show.” I slow down the pace to a brisk walk to get my heart rate down to normal. “Have you ever been to Chicago?”
“A long time ago,” I pant out, looking over at her. She’s sitting in the middle of the gym with her legs stretched out in front of her.
“We should sightsee.” A smile fills her lips. “The bean, the deep-dish pizza.”
“Shameless.” Grabbing my water bottle, I drain it. Her face looks confused. “The television show.”
“I’ve never watched it.” She stands, and there is a knock on the door. “Is it good?” She follows me to the door, and when I swing it open, room service is right on time with our order. He wheels the tray in, leaving it right beside the dining room table. “I’ll be back,” she says quietly and then turns to walk out of the room. I help the man take the plates off the tray, and now the table is full of plates. He turns to leave, taking his rolling tray away, and I uncover the food. It’s usually the same things—eggs, fruit, pancakes—the only difference is today it has waffles.
“Did you order waffles?” I shout over my shoulder and wait for her to answer. I sit down to fill my plate, and there’s still no sign of her. I get up and walk to her open bedroom door, showing me the big king-size bed with the covers tossed over. “Kellie.” I knock even though the door is open, and the bathroom door opens. She walks out with her hair tied on top of her head and steam billowing out with her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to …” I watch her walk out of the bathroom wrapped in a white terry cloth robe. As she comes closer, I see little droplets along her neck, and I know she took a quick shower.
“I had to wash the sweat off me.” She goes to her carry-on luggage and pulls out her iPad. “What were you yelling about?” she asks, and for a second, I’m speechless as I just watch her. She’s not wearing a stitch of makeup, and she looks more beautiful than anyone I’ve ever seen in my whole life. “Are you okay?”
I shake out of it. “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just asking if you ordered waffles.” I turn around and go back to the table, trying to shake myself out of it. I need to get a hold of this. Now.
“I did. I was mixing it up.” I hear from beside me now as I sit down in the chair, and she sits next to me, placing her iPad right next to her as she piles food on her plate. I don’t say anything to her. Instead, I focus on my food and not the smell of strawberries coming from her. My mouth is suddenly really heavy, and the eggs almost taste like rocks. “Are you not hungry?” she asks from beside me. “You usually devour your food.”
“I’m fine.” It comes out gruff and tight, and I watch as she leans back in her chair. “I’m going to shower.” I push away from the table and leave my plate, which isn’t like me. I always clean up. But I can’t sit at the table anymore, wondering what she is wearing under the robe. Does she have on panties? Is she naked, all naked? I slam my door a little bit harder than I mean to and almost rip the shirt over my head on my way to the shower. Turning it to cold, I don’t need any warmth. What I need is the ice cold to seep into my bones. I step into the shower, placing my hands on the tiled wall in front of me, and bend my head. The ice water runs down the back of my neck, but my cock is hard as fuck. My eyes fall closed as I fist myself; her face is the only one in my mind. Her blond hair is wrapped around my fist as she takes all of me to the back of her throat. I try to picture someone else, anyone else, but nothing can make it not her. I come on a groan with my eyes still shut.
Turning the water from cold to hot, I finally open my eyes as my cock finally goes down. I get out of the shower, wrapping a towel around my waist, and walk out to my bedroom. Grabbing a pair of boxers, I slide into them. I also grab a pair of jeans and a black polo. Once I get myself under control, I walk into the living room and see her curled up in a ball on the couch, still wearing the bathrobe, watching television. Looking at the screen, I see what she is watching. “Is that Shameless?” I ask her, and she looks up and smiles, nodding her head.
“Yes.” Her eyes remain glued to the television. “What in the hell am I watching?” I laugh when I remember thinking the same thing at the beginning. She doesn’t say anything, nor does she move while one episode rolls into two, and when the fourth one is about to start, she gets up. “Do you know where the Alibi is?”
“No,” I answer her, and the knock on the door has me looking over. The door opens on its own, and I see Cori walk in.
“What the hell are you doing?” she asks. “You were supposed to be ready ten minutes ago. I was waiting in the lobby.” Kellie flies up from the couch and runs into the bedroom. “Seriously, what the hell?”
“I wasn’t paying attention to the time,” I answer her, getting up and getting my backpack. “We were watching Shameless.”
“So you guys are late, and it’s not because of what I thought it was?” she asks, folding her arms over her chest, and I look over at her, my eyes narrowing to a glare.
“Never going to happen,” I tell her through clenched teeth, while my head asks me why.
“I think Justin Bieber said it best. Never say never.” She smiles and then her head snaps back to Kellie who is running out of the bedroom. She threw on blue jeans, a white T-shirt, and she is wearing cowboy boots.
“I was watching Shameless,” she tells Cori. “Brian is going to take me on a tour of Chicago.”
She looks over at me as we walk out of the hotel room, the door closing with a click behind us. “Is he now?” she asks with a smirk.
“He is,” Kellie answers, pressing the button
to go down. “I want to go to the bean, and then I want to go to meet the Gallaghers.”
“You know that they don’t really exist, right?” I ask her and then look at Cori.
“I was hoping we could maybe swing by Firehouse 51 and see if Severide can come and light my fire.” Cori looks at me and sees the confused look on my face. “Chicago Fire.”
“Never heard of it,” I say, and Cori and Kellie both look at me in shock.
“Oh my God,” Cori says while Kellie just shakes her head.
“He used to date Lady Gaga,” Kellie informs me. “Taylor Kinney.” She looks at back at Cori. “You think he’s still single?”
I look back at her. “No dating,” I hiss out, and they both look at me. Cori’s smiling, and Kellie’s glaring. “You said you wouldn’t date till after the tour is over.” Neither of them says anything because the elevator dings, and the doors open. Kellie walks, or better yet, storms into the elevator and presses the button. I step in at the same time as Cori, who snickers under her breath.
The drive to the venue is quiet with no conversation. Once we get into the venue, she disappears and goes onto the stage where I can’t follow her. “That’s interesting, right?” Cori says from beside me, sitting in the front row. It’s where I always sit when she rehearses. “That she said she wasn’t going to date. Especially when she is usually always out with someone.”
I look over at her. “Don’t spin this into something it’s not.” I turn to look at the stage when Kellie’s soft voice comes out. “It’s easier to make sure she stays under the radar for the tour.”
“If you say so,” she singsongs, and when I finally look over at her, I see that she is up and out of her seat, walking to the side. I watch as Kellie transforms into the star on stage. Gone is the girl with no makeup, gone is the girl who just lies on her side watching television with me, and in its place is a girl who is Hollywood’s princess.
Hollywood Princess Page 9
